The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts...

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

Roman Reigns is the top guy. He has main evented the last three Wrestlemanias against Brock Lesnar, Triple H, and The Undertaker. However, most will concede that something is missing. He is positioned as the top guy, but doesn't have the aura or the mystique that a true #1 main eventer needs.

Before the Shield broke up, they were on of the top overall acts in the company. The hope was that once they split it would create three top level acts in Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins. However, as individuals they have all never quite reached the same level they did as a collective. Roman Reigns has proven particularly problematic, as fans stubbornly refuse to accept him as a legitimate top babyface.

The question is, what can be done about this?

A lot of ideas have been floated around about Roman Reigns. Make him more of a badass anti-hero. Turn him into a top heel. But all of these ideas insist that he remain a singles star in order to be positioned as the top act in the company. The fact is that Roman Reigns is limited, as are Ambrose and Rollins in different ways, and while they can all individually be good, on their own none can great. Certainly not as great as the star-starved WWE needs them to be.

To me, the answer is to reunite the Shield as a main event level threat. As THE main event level threat. Three World Title contenders, all working together. The unfortunate truth is that when it comes to Reigns, Rollins, and Ambrose, the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. As the Shield, they were able to effectively hide their weaknesses and highlight their strengths. It's how they got over in the first place. That, and the fact that they were protected as an act. Do that again.

The Shield can accomplish far more collectively than individually when it comes to starpower. Nobody can be the guy on their own, but they could be the guy together.

As fans we are used to the WWE, and in the WWE world a top act is always a singles star. Bruno, Hogan, Austin, Rock, Cena. Right now they don't have a guy that can do that on his own. They don't have a guy that is the total package.

However, there's nothing that says your top act MUST be an individual. In the territory days, the Road Warriors were often THE most over act in a territory, and they could routinely close shows. The term "Road Warrior" pop applies to any monster pop, and that's how over they were. And they were a team. In World Class, the top feud was the Von Erichs and the Fabulous Freebirds. Again, two teams. The WWE is a wrestling promotion, they could apply this same logic. They simply choose not to.

So what do you think about a Shield reunion, in order to position the Shield collectively as the top act in the company? The WWE feels stale, and this would be something truly different than what we have seen in any previous era. How would you feel about seeing a tag team match close Wrestlemania? Is it conceivable to you that a team could be that kind of act in the WWE?

 

[Spencesc11]

All 3 have been successful but none are as over as they were as THE SHIELD!!!

DX had two top stars (HBK & HHH) that both chased singles titles so why can't these 3 guys???

I would move them to Smackdown though and here is why. If your moving AJ Styles over and you already have Finn Balor & The Hardy's your pretty good with top level faces on Raw. Move Reigns & Rollins to Smackdown and re-start a Shield vs. Wyatt Family Feud. Move Cena along with Styles to Raw to balance the star power but this could be a great move for the company for sure. If you can send house shows out with re-united factions it will only sell more tickets and merchandise.

So if you do this my new brand star flips would be this....

Reigns, Rollins, Sasha Banks, Cesaro/Sheamus, Enzo/Cass, & Rusev to Smackdown

Styles, Cena, Kalisto, American Alpha, Mickie James, & Baron Corbin to Raw.

 

[Navi]

I have to agree with the OP. Even though all of the former Shield members have gone on to win almost every championship belt there is, there is something missing.

Someone mentioned DX, well HBK and HHH were already established singles wrestlers when DX was formed, so they were already stars who just happened to form a faction. A very successful one at that. None of the Shield guys had a singles run first, well only in NXT, so that might be part of the problem.

They were hugely over as a faction, but the waters were untested as so how they would do on their own. Ambrose and Rollins had the most experience, and while they have a decent singles runs I wanted them to have better. Rollins didn't need Kane to come out and fight his battles for him, but the feud with Ambrose was great. Since that feud ended Rollins knee injuries have held him back. Ambrose has just seemed to be in a rut for the last year or so, like they don't know what to do with him.

The only time the crowd goes totally nuts is when the three Shield guys tease a Shield reunion these days. On his own Reigns gets a mixed reaction, Ambrose is still over despite becoming a little stale and Rollins well his face turn was not that wonderful though fans want to cheer him.

It's pretty obvious that the WWE needs more stars, making the Shield the top group wouldn't be an issue with me, but I have a feeling that's not what the WWE wants. The Shield getting back together is being reserved for some special occasion somewhere down the road. Been three years now since they broke up, so who knows how long they are prepared to wait.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I always thought that the shield should reunite because while Roman as become the number one guy in the company by far, he's still got a long way to go to be in the same league as a John Cena in my opinion.

The only problem with a Shield reunion in my opinion is that it's one year too late in my opinion. The problem is that while Reigns might not be seen by some fans as a success, the guy as evolve alot more then rollins and ambrose and as become the top guy and it really was apparent the last couple of weeks and especially last monday when he played the smart crowd like a fiddle for what seem like 15 minutes.

So he past the other 2 as far as how big of a star he his. Sure it would be cool to see a shield reunion and i'm all for ambrose to be traded to Raw next week and reunite with the other two but what made the shield so great won't be there as much anymore unless you turn both rollins and ambrose heel again and the shield are the bad ass heel which i'm not sure fans would except this either.

Personally, the only way i would love to see this happening at this point his if aj styles get traded to raw and reunited with gallows and anderson and they build a feud with both faction which would lead to a match at summerslam or one of the other 3 big events outside of that, just let them be who they are at right now because the only person that a shield reunion would benefit at this point would be dean ambrose because out of the three, he's the one that really need the most help and need to change something.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Nah, they dont need it. In order to do that they would need common ground like something they cant overcome. And even if they present HHH, Joe and Owens as new threat I cant see Shield reunion in more then 2 PPVs. All 3 of them are accomplished single competitors. Reigns retired Taker, Rollins, injuries aside, did good at main event, even Ambrose who did the worst out of 3 of them was World Champion and Intercontinental Champion now. Maybe in future when they dont have anything else for them. Now they do great as single competitors.

 

[MWRedskins]

As much as a Shield reunion would be great, i just dont want to see it right now because it would feel too soon. i think the best way to get Roman Reigns over is to do what happened with his cousin The Rock. Turn him heel, hope he'll get over as a heel and eventually turn him face when the fans start to cheer him (if they ever do).

Someone mentioned Rollins not being over with the crowd, but the problem with him was that his face turn was done too late. if WWE turned him face when he came back and kept him face, then he would've been VERY over and i think if he goes to say Smackdown and becomes to top guy there, he'll get over because of both his wrestling ability and his mic work.

 

[L@RISANO]

At the start of their Singles careers, Reigns and Rollins were rumoured to be considered as future ME talents whilst Ambrose was alleged as an Upper Midcarder.

Looking at how Mania 33 played out, that does seem to be right on track for the most part. Tho, the brand split gives Ambrose a chance to go higher in the near future.


A Shield reunion will happen in the near future, but not as a band aid. Both Reigns and Rollins are progressing well enough and just got huge wins at Mania by beating Taker and HHH respectively.


What WWE really needs to do is to invest in these guys properly and not just have them throw shade to the other full-timers and then become chumps against the fancy part-timers. On that front, at least Mania 33 was a good start and something to build on.


If one really wants to look at failures, look no further than the Wyatt family guys(Bray, Braun, Harper, Rowan) all of whom were made to look like chumps during the past week in some form or fashion.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I agree with everything. Sure Reigns, Ambrose, Rollins.. they have star power on their own. But man, the Shield right now, combining all that star power, would be insane. Keep their individual merch, add Shield merch. Extra boost to merch sales.

One thing wouldn't change though. Reigns would still get booed out of every building. That will never change. It's a trend now. It's his motto. It's how the fans react when he comes out.

One thing I disagree with though: Reigns is not the one that needs the Shield reunion. It's Rollins and Ambrose. They are nowhere near Reigns when it comes to merch sales. Also Rollins is said to be behind Ambrose and Reigns in ticket sales. And when it comes to babyface work.. man, Rollins just had the worst babyface turn in history. Ambrose was on the Wrestlemania pre-show. So let's not talk about how Reigns is the one missing something.

All 3 of them are missing something, however Rollins and Ambrose have a lot more ground to cover than Reigns.

One problem though.. There are two world championships. In different brands. How does that work? One of them should take a step back. They would have to do cross-promotional appearences. That brings down the brand extension. And how do you keep them in one brand with one world title? Will they take turns? You can't have a leader, since they have to look equal. So how do you do it without them crossing paths?
I think it's possible, but WWE won't have the creativity to do something like that.

Shield running RAW, Club running Smackdown. That would be epic.

 

[Radical]

So what do you think about a Shield reunion, in order to position the Shield collectively as the top act in the company?

How many bright young stars would this Shield reunion inevitably knock over on their way back up to the top again?

Reunions are really hard to pull off in pro wrestling better than they were done in the first place.

How well did a NWO reunion do in WWE? (Or even how well did NWO do in WCW when they let NWO go on for too long?)

How well did a DX reunion do in WWE with just Shawn and Trips? Half-decent, but they were super faces and weren't in it for singles titles.

How well did a Evolution reunion do in WWE? Could argue it was decent, and I'll give credit that it seemed to be done with purpose in mind. The purpose was to elevate THE SHIELD to the top act in the company. It happened and it was at that top level in the company that led to the big split of the team.

So really, what MORE could be done with a Shield reunion that hasn't already been done to make them a bigger, badder, more unstoppable team? And would it be worth it with all sorts of talent coming up that would obviously have to get beaten as the Shield is getting built up again?


To be clear, I do not disagree that WWE has become stale and safe and lack intensity, shocking moments and more power-shifts. They DO need to be more interesting, but I think another team or other teams forming is a better way to go.

In fact, we could take Reigns and build a team around him. But Reigns would have to continue to be the focal point. Because in DX Triple H was the clear top guy. Even in Evolution Triple H was the top guy but it allowed room for others to get built up around him just as DX and guys like Road Dogg, X-Pac and Billy Gunn see Championships (just not the TOP Championship).

Reigns would need a bit of a character adjustment, because as of now he is kind of a one-man army and that's actually part of his character right now, that he doesn't need any help. But, it is still possible to build at team around him and allow him even be a next level top heel.


Personally, I'd just like to see more dominant heel teams emerge. So many times they have had an opportunity and just let things slide. Wyatt Family never really became a top heel team. The Club comes into WWE and just fades into the background instead of coming in with a lot of steam and intensity.


One of the things I think WWE in the AE got done well is having teams of more than just two guys in a tag team; factions, stables, where there are multiple members and that allowed for a lot of options for storylines and interference.

WWE today is too much separation between talents. I think if more teams heel teams form and become aggressive and dominant it allows more room for babyfaces to emerge after fighting through all the adversity that a strong heel team brings to the table.

 

[Un-Bo-Lievable Jeff]

The main, glaring issue with this scenario is.........

Who is the Champ?

If 'The Shield' are going to be the top guys.....who is going to be 'The Top Guy'?

Why would any of them be happy with either of the others being champ and not themselves?

 

[The Perfect Max]

I'm not sure I would be overly excited by this. I do think that a Shield reunion should DEFINITELY happen at some point in the future, but a few years from now. Let the three of them have their moment in the sun for now.

But I do agree that something is definitely missing from all three of them. I was watching some stuff on the Network from 2014. Watching Ambrose then and watching him now, it's a different character. There was a serious edge to his character only two and a half, almost three years ago, that I feel gets watered down at times for a comical form of his 'lunatic' gimmick. He can be very funny, but I think what's halting him is the edge. Similarly with Seth, I think he's great in the ring and has the potential to be a mega-star, but he needs the character. Kurt Angle was spot on when he said that WWE fans remember the character's a lot more than the matches, although the matches can still be classic memories. Ultimately though, I turn to Rollins at this point and question what his character really is. He definitely needs something more. Again, I don't think a reunion helps this.

Ironically, and most people will hate this, but I genuinely believe Roman is the guy that least needs any changes to his character. Keep him going down the path he is on because he is a magnet for heat and you can't buy that sort of heat. It's working for where they want to go with him, and if the fans hate him for it, then he's a top heel. It doesn't need to be spelt out.

I do agree with you in the sense that nobody on the roster strikes me as the "full package" at the moment, but there are SO MANY guys that are right there, they just need to go that extra mile and it will happen. For me, a Shield reunion would halt these three guys from ascending to greater heights, and while they would be incredibly dominant, it would restrict their growth as individual characters. Just my opinion though. And like I say, a Shield reunion at some point will be fun to watch.